This weekend we had the pleasure of visiting our old house down the street! We moved seven houses down in March of 2021. And yes, while our new home was on John’s 2016 vision board, there will always be a soft spot in our hearts for the home that made us Memphis Midtowners! The new owners invited us over for the sweetest baby sip n see and the best part about it was that Johnny got to visit the old house that he has been missing a ton! Seriously every single time we pass by in the car or on a walk he asks when he is going to get to visit his old room. At the party he toured with John and when seeing the master bedroom he exclaimed, “Oh wow it’s a mommy and daddy’s bedroom just like it was my mommy and daddy’s bedroom!”
Isn’t shopping for the trip half the fun? Browsing the Rent the Runway site I quickly filtered my dress options by “floral” and “daytime” knowing that I’d want breezy dresses for the heat.
Added to my virtual bag and most importantly save space in your suitcase by shipping your items to your destination! I always address it with “Attn: Guest Dorothy Collier” at the top and then request it’s delivered to the room at check in. When we’re heading home, I either drop it at a nearby UPS or tip the staff to have it be picked up at the hotel.
Browse my picks for a maximalist look in Palm Springs. Loose fitting dresses sure to be comfortable in the desert heat. I did choose a long sleeve dress for an evening outdoor party where it got very windy in between the canyons!
Get 40% off your first month of Rent the Runway here. Trust me, you'll never look back!
]]>Have you been looking for new and fun ways to level up your wardrobe?
Maybe add a little fun and flare to your everyday style? Then look no further, because these silk scarves are going to give you that sparkle you’re searching for!
These unique patterns mixed with animals, veuve champagne bottles, and floral designs, come in a variety of combinations and looks.
You can start shopping them here.
I love to help you find ways to style, wear, and utilize these scarves. For example, wear small ones in your hair, medium ones around your neck, or frame a big one to make a huge statement on your wall for a fraction of a gigantic canvas. I have created 4 sizes for each silk scarf in my collection. Below, I have listed specific ways that each scarf would work in your wardrobe.
For the 16”x16” scarf, this would be great styled as hair accessory, purse accent, or bracelet wrap.
The 26”x26” is best complimented in bandana style as a headband, or neck scarf.
The 36”x36” looks fabulous as a shawl or scarf.
For the 50”x50” is brilliant as a pool wrap sarong or also as a scarf.
Can you imagine how good you feel once you drape yourself in not only beautiful colors and patterns, but wearable ART?!
I have created these rich silk scarves based off my entire collection and hope that you will enjoy wearing them as much I did creating them.
xoxo,
Dorothy
]]>This is why I have decided to create my new signature pieces celebrating the delightful fox and bunny rabbit. Keep reading to see why these animals inspired me, and how I have designed them to uplift you and give your space that magical pop.
Where it All Began
As a young girl, I spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s antique stores. She was a women of refined style with a passion for antiques. I was fascinated by so many of the pieces I would encounter on daily basis.
Being surrounded by antiques felt like a wonderland of surprises. Each day was an adventure, and you never knew what you’d find.
My favorite pieces in her shops were the animal figurines. There was something so special about how delicate and whimsical they were. I also gathered inspiration from the ornate wood carvings, the intricate textures, and the embroidered silk fabrics of the antique furniture. This combination of animals and styles has become a staple in my collection to this day.
Animal Inspiration
One highlight of my art process involves going to antique stores to find what lights me up and makes me want to create. The whimsical nature and refined style of animal pieces and décor really drives my vision.
About 10 years ago on a weekly visit to a local shop, I picked up a children’s book that immediately created such feelings of excitement. I knew I needed to design and share what I felt. These designs happened to be bunnies and foxes! I began painting them and creating fine art pieces centered around their sweetness and joy. People loved them and used them for children’s rooms as well as living spaces for that extra wow factor.
Behind the Design
Each oil painting in this collection was designed to make you feel cheerful and bring a sense of fun into your space.
I created them with a shimmer oil paint to maximize the luxurious feel and finished them with a resin to add a heightened extravagance.
The first piece in this collection is titled “The Bunny and The Butterfly.” This lovely painting embodies the magic of innocence. With the floral motif background, it’s sure to capture your inner child.
Up next we have “Sly Settee Sitter." This playful little guy siting atop a rich silk fabric settee, will bring a frolicsome and lively vibe into your atmosphere.
Next is “Hare on a Chair.” The bunny rabbit posing nobly in a beautifully vibrant green chair, really gives off a sweet yet proud vibe.
And last but not least in this collection, is the “Smug Fox.” His mischievous and content grin, displays the perfect representation of a fox in it’s natural state.
To see more detailed photos of the paintings, click here.
Bloomed and Ready for You
Foxes on Furniture and Hares on Chairs has been an absolute JOY to create and share with you. These pieces are perfect for Easter and the spring season. I know you are feeling the excitement and ready to get these on your walls!
To see the whole collection and purchase from Dorothy Art, you can click here!
As always, thanks for being apart of this art making journey with me.
Xoxo,
Dorothy
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Again, I thought we were probably wasting @halliebiggs_realtor time by making her see it on a Friday night! This was too grand for us. The molding alone was INSANE! And then we went back to our home, just a block away. John walked upstairs to his medicine cabinet and came back down with his vision board he made in Jan 2016. On it…THE HOUSE. Not one like it, not across the street, THE HOUSE. Here’s his vision board - Tesla still in the works but the bling boy and girl were on there before we had them. 😊
💙
And that’s the ultimate story of how I learned thoughts become things. It’s only been a year in our forever home and my life has changed tenfold because I’ve seen a photo on a piece of paper (that we forgot about for 5 years!) become a reality. ASK for what you want. DREAM and VISUALIZE. The Universe would never put a dream inside you that you do not deserve or something that cannot become a reality. We are not in control of the WHEN or the HOW. Just the WHAT. WHAT do YOU WANT? Thank you to my ultimate visualizer, @johnstuartcollier who showed me the way to possibilities!
Curious what all of this vision board stuff is about? I'm so thrilled to be diving more into the subject to how YOU can be POSITIVELY CREATIVE. Make sure you're subscribed to the VIP newsletter here and in the mean time visit my Amazon shop where I've shared my favorite books for visioning.
]]>When brainstorming new subjects for her Rorschach series Dorothy knew that the feathers fanning in a symmetrical pattern on the page would work well for the medium and painting technique.
Keeping with the symmetrical fanning form, Dorothy created a digital drawing of the peacock, which became a fine art print with different background colors to choose from. These are perfect for mixing and matching with Dorothy's other animal and chinoiserie prints for a refined gallery look.
The main event for the series is the pairing of "Peacocks Poppin' Bubbly," oil on board, resined. These two have Dorothy's heart. "As an artist it's thrilling when a subject or image is screaming in your head that you have to get it out onto the canvas then and there. I practically raced to the studio!"
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Confession: We are OBSESSED with anything that has a theme and Halloween is on the top of that obsession list in this house.
As many of you have seen from my Instagram story antics, Johnny has ventured deep into a love of Star Wars this year. When he has imaginary play he’s starred in almost every role. Yet the only title he has given to his little sister without fail every single time is the role of Jabba the Hutt. 😆 It stuck. So much so that he asked if Coco could be Jabba the Hutt for Halloween. HOW COULD I SAY NO? The visualization I had of me pulling a wagon with a sitting infant in a big ball of green made me howl. DONE. We’ll pay for her therapy later.
]]>As many of you have seen from my Instagram story antics, Johnny has ventured deep into a love of Star Wars this year. When he has imaginary play he’s starred in almost every role. Yet the only title he has given to his little sister without fail every single time is the role of Jabba the Hutt. 😆 It stuck. So much so that he asked if Coco could be Jabba the Hutt for Halloween. HOW COULD I SAY NO? The visualization I had of me pulling a wagon with a sitting infant in a big ball of green made me howl. DONE. We’ll pay for her therapy later.
Johnny asked to be an Ewok so that I he could carry a stick and I, as Leia, could feed him treats. Also done. 😆 I searched on Etsy for an Ewok costume and BooBahBlue’s was the most impressive with that furry ear hair popping through a delicate hooded fabric. Very realistic. I frantically messaged her my want of an infant Jabba desires and she not only made it happen beyond my expectations but she listened to my wants of thin fabric since we’re still in warm weather in October and showed me samples of how she would create it. The customer experience was impeccable and so was the product. As a huge cheerleader of creative entrepreneurs making unique products, I knew I had to show off these costumes well before Halloween!
How did BooBahBlue start?
I started BooBahBlue when my son was born. I am not a fan of teddy bears, ❤️... ducks, typical baby prints... so I started making my own bibs and burp cloths in modern prints for me. As others were interested, I started selling in local shops, then found Etsy. Halloween rolled around and I made my son his first costume, the lion. I hadn’t even thought of making them for sale, but was excited about the idea of having a job I could do from home to raise Riley, so I listed it just to see if there was any interest, just 2 weeks before Halloween, and I instantly sold 20!
Why kids costumes?
As the years followed and I would make him a new costume, I would list it, and add the next size up... I made my own patterns based off Riley, so as he grew, so did the costume line. The name comes from Riley.. as a baby we called him boobah, and his middle name is Blue. Which is why it’s also always been kids costumes... I was making them for my own child.
We are Halloween obsessed over here! What’s your family’s halloween tradition?
I love Halloween...it’s my favorite holiday... I love costumes, getting dressed up, I love going all out, but I am the only one in my family that is passionate about it. Riley likes Halloween and has come up with some pretty creative costumes that I don’t have in the shop, but these days it’s more about the candy than the costume for him. So I usually inspire a costume theme with a gang of girlfriends/moms and we go all out together and take the kids trick or treating. Last year we all dressed as men, lol... photos in my IG feed. Normally I would decorate the house, but we are in a rural community, and kids go to town rather than door to door.
What’s a day in the life of creating for you?
A day in the life of creating... during this time of year is pretty crazy. As soon as I wake up I’m at the computer, checking messages and orders, packing, shipping and starting right in on cutting and sewing. I work usually until midnight, I try not to go past 1am to keep my sanity. I used to have occasional help with cutting and some sewing, but for the last 2 years, it’s just myself making nearly 1000 costumes per season. I usually have a podcast or movie going to help keep my attention from wandering off to the other 100 things going in my brain... lol. In the off season is when I can have fun imagining new costume ideas and finding materials, creating their patterns and figuring out how to make them efficiently.
What’s your favorite costume to create?
I do love creating custom orders, it’s a fun challenge! Making your Jabba The Hutt was a completely different costume for me, and maybe one of my favorite. I’m a “puzzle person” so I love the challenge of trying to figure out how to make it work. I am not a professionally trained pattern designer or seamstress... I am self taught beyond home economics class in middle school... so sewing out patterns to create 3D shapes is challenging for me. I also made a custom ET costume once... it was sooo hard! I definitely undercharged and vowed to never do it again 😂. I’m not sure what makes me positively creative... in fact, I don’t generally think of myself as such. I think of myself as being resourceful and someone who believes if someone else can do it, why can’t I? I’ve never been afraid to try, and when I see something I like, my first thought is “I can make that," or at the very least have fun trying. I’m one of those people that is never bored.
What makes you positively creative?
I am often inspired by other people’s creativity. I would love to make insanely intricate costume, one of a kind pieces. I think it would be so fun. But for my shop, I decided to focus on costumes that are easy to wear, affordable and timeless. Which is why I don’t have many novelty costumes in my shop except Mushu the dragon, though I have made plenty of Ninja Turtles, Paw Patrol, and video game characters upon request. Part of my mission was to make costumes that one could keep for their grandchildren to wear, just as my mom kept my handmade costumes and clothes that were passed to Riley. I just thought it was so special that he could wear a pair of my shoes from the 70’s or knit hat... I guess I’m nostalgic, and I feel like that is something being lost in our culture... everything is new and disposable, it holds no memory or meaning. I want to keep that tradition alive and make timeless pieces that last.
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I think the entire 6 years we have lived here I never took the plunge to focus on this room because I thought you shouldn’t have a tv in a formal space. Well, if quarantine has taught me anything it’s that life’s too short to not LIVE. So living in the living room it is, which means tv 📺 in the evenings is a part of that livelihood. I initially was searching for someone to create a picture frame box for it, but then learned about the Art app on our smart tv! Just $2.99 a month and I can have a rotating gallery to fit my mood above the mantle.
I love everything that Lindsey at Mrs. Post stocks her shop with and these papermache bird busts are no exception!
The needlepoint firescreen is antique and passed down. John’s maternal great grandmother created it! And to round out the mantle’s look with a nod from my side, the cherub carving is one of the accessory pieces my grandmother sold in her antique shops every holiday season.
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Is it just me or is it really hard to pull the trigger on nailing holes into walls?! That's why #1, I was so excited to utilize our picture rails in this room and #2, I stallllled to put these up, despite their gorgeousness.
I am obsessed with everything that Nikki of Baby Creep makes. She gets two appearances in this room with this lightbulb sculpture she created at the late Memphis College of Art's annual retreat to Horn Island. Each lightbulb she used was a piece of litter she found on the island!
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This room is now so dark with lots of furniture that I knew I needed to lighten the feel of the space within the center of the room. These acrylic coffee tables stacked did the trick! Styled with some oddities, a pendant of my childhood (John disapproves of the juxtaposition, but it's a lewk for now.)
All about some artwork that's functional these days. One of my favorite local artists Nikkila of Baby Creep posted this floral baby face vase and I jumped on it! I think this is the 5th or 6th piece of hers I've collected. The perfect addition to hold all of John's rainbow dice for his favorite cocktail game, Clickity Clack.
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Well, I probably should have created this a while back, before I actually started purchasing things for the living room's overhaul in the One Room Challenge. But, when I started digging Pinterest for inspiration, I started purchasing and it kind of fell into place at that point.
So many things to share! My top two goals for this room were to 1) to be daring and embrace maximalism while still keeping all antiques 2) to be comfortable for John's and my evening tv showtime, while still being formal, as this is the main room where everyone gathers for large cocktail parties. I want bold statement pieces of art with pops of color all around.
I'll give the play by play on the new furniture then the art. Not too many new pieces as far as furniture goes. We needed comfortable pieces, since we're transitioning from laying on the sofa in the den every night to watch tv. I swore I'd never own a recliner, but here I am. I found two velvet studded chairs that recline, the Islas on Joss & Main. I decided to go with two different colors, this burgundy and an emerald green. Unfortunately they're already not showing up on the site. I believe they were on sale and some of the last...sorry! Why is it that the only chic modern furniture right now is velvet?! Anyway... they arrived last night and we have yet to unbox. Praying they're pass John's test. Otherwise I'll never get to experience my adult living room sans play toys landmine. I'm not sure how much these will truly recline and I love an ottoman, so was thinking of grabbing some moroccan poufs to pair with the sofa. My local Memphis artist friend, Brittney Bullock, is exploring fabrics in her work and just created this! Hoping she can create something for me in the coming weeks. Truly form meets function.
The largest piece of furniture in the room is our gorgeous federal sofa, passed down from John's maternal grandmother. I believe they purchased it years ago from an antique shop on Royal Street in New Orleans. We have not recovered it and while the light blue fabric worked wonderfully in the last living room iteration, time for something new. I reached out to one of my favorite local artists, Kyle Taylor to see if he could translate his killer Memphis toile wallpaper into fabric to recover the sofa. Stay tuned!!!
There's only so much space in this living room, it all needs to fit within the gorgeous antique rug passed down from John's mom, and so I am switching out our big iron and glass coffee table for acrylic ones. Visually lightening up the room, giving your eye a rest. Since I'm lame at measuring things, I didn't and just ordered one. Well, it came in and looks miniature in comparison to our federal sofa, so I ordered another a few inches smaller and they'll stack.
When searching for maximalist decor on Pinterest, the Brits are doing it best right now. This cone lampshade from Love Frankie wowed me and it's being created now and on it's way over the pond in about 5 weeks! Crossing my fingers it lands before the final reveal! Haven't jumped on it yet, but the other new lighting addition would be coming from Europe as well, from Neon Beach. Please don't kill my vibe, ha! But more about that next week when I share all of the plans for artwork!
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I cannot wait to show you more in the coming weeks!!! I told myself that I wanted to be bold, embrace maximalism. I told myself that if it felt risky, then do it. When the painters came out, they let me choose four samples to paint. The upper right is Sherwin Williams cascades (too green, our master bedroom is a great emerald green so didn’t want to be too close to that. Upper left is Sherwin Williams Moscow Midnight (too close to Johnny’s bedroom that’s navy) Lower left is Sherwin Williams Blue Peacock (WINNER! Bold, still bright enough to see in the dark at night with no overhead lighting - this room gets very dark at night) and lower right is Farrow and Ball Hague Blue (while stunning, I knew at night it would read black.)
So yes, brightest option chosen all while highlighting our antique and vintage pieces that were once our grandparents’.
This piece will probably get recovered, and it’s ironic that I’m sharing this child’s chair because I’m *specifically* redecorating our living room so it’s an oasis away from all of the kids’ plastic toys at the end of a long day.
This chippendale chair is a sample piece that my grandmother had made as a potential product for her two antique shops and she was going to take to market to sell wholesale. Ultimately they couldn’t get the manufacturing costs down from what I’m told so only a couple of them were made. This is the chair I sat in every Christmas morning at their home in Greenwood, Mississippi until I couldn’t fit anymore and then I moved my annual “Christmas spot” to the piano bench. Everyone had a designated spot when opening Christmas presents and we all had to go in rounds watching each other open. We even clap at the end of each gift and some presents command a of the entire family.
That’s why I love family heirlooms. It’s not the actual piece, while possibly fine and grand, it’s the memories behind them.
What’s one piece passed down you hold dear?
But more importantly I’m thrilled because I’m finally tending to redecorating the living room. It all started when the kids toys started taking over the den. The den is where we watch TV at night and I was not feeling relaxed at the end of the day watching television surrounded by primary plastic cars and Legos. No matter how much you try to teach a three-year-old to clean up after himself, there’s always still a straggling Spiderman that didn’t make it into the basket. We are blessed with such a big house and I feel like we are only utilizing so many square feet when we should be living in the actual living room. The previous decor is all hand me down antiques from grandparents and family. The wall paint is the only color that we didn’t change in the house once we moved in. This light blue gray was my love when we moved in here almost 6 years ago. It was all the rage with the shabby chic, add my blue and white collection passed down from my grandmother, and it fit perfectly.  but it’s time for a change and interestingly enough my style has a lot more bright colors added to it in the past couple of years - see Coco’s Wizard of Oz nursery for example 😉. 
So when scrolling through Instagram a couple of weeks ago I saw that the one room challenge was delayed for the spring of 2020 with a set date of early May. Perfect! Something to light a fire under me, so when scrolling through Instagram a couple of weeks ago I saw that the one room challenge was delayed for the spring of 2020 with a set date of early May. Perfect! Something to light a fire under me to redecorate the living room, right around my birthday and Mother’s Day?! It was too perfect because no way on god’s green earth I could’ve convinced John to all of these purchases otherwise.
So to Pinterest and to Instagram hashtags I ran, falling down the rabbit hole of #modernlivingroom #eclectic #maximalism #gucciinspiredlivingroom and #mixingmodernandclassic . I am steering toward bold and bright, cheerful and different.
Later this week I’ll share my mood board I’m working on, chronicling the project on my Dorothy Art blog, Heritage House.
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Arrow seeks to make art more accessible in order to inspire the creative spirit in all Memphians. We strive to be a premier source of creative entrepreneur enrichment, arts education, and art immersion for the entire community.
At the Arrow concept shop located at 2535 Broad Avenue in the heart of the Memphis Arts District, you will find a retail shop that houses 55+ local artists handmade work for sale, 6 studio artists where you can shop directly from their studios while they make, coworking space by day and evening classes that range from claymaking for hobbyists to continuing education for creative entrepreneurs.
Your donations provided the entire month of June rent relief for our studio artists! It also provided for resources towards continued education for creatives through our Positively Creative workshops.
Over the past 2.5 years I have put Dorothy Art on the backburner to build this community which Memphis artists deserve. Arrow gives artists more possibilities of revenue streams, which is so needed to keep afloat as a creative entrepreneur. As many have realized with COVID, wholesale sales opportunities were almost wiped away overnight. Artists and makers needed online channels to continue to reach their customers. Arrow strives to provide education opportunities on online platforms and social media practices so that artists can better navigate new platforms. Creatives are in need of a "water cooler," because being in our home studios can be very isolating day in and day out, not having someone to bounce ideas off of. Post COVID safer at home, I'm sure that many understand this feeling now. When we do get to reopen in full, I know this community will be eager for the comradery.
The exciting news is that this is just our concept shop! We have plans to expand to tens of thousands of square feet. Arrow recently purchased ten departments of Memphis College of Art's equipment and we look forward to finding our forever home which will house this artmaking equipment for the entire to utilize through a membership at the low cost of $35 / month.
Again, thank you for your support and please give us a visit when it is safe to do so. Until then, you can shop from our retailers online at arrowcreative.org/retail and donate to continue our mission at arrowcreative.org/donate
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💖What do you think they’re thinking?🤨#portraitsofpuzzlingtimes 🧩 Y’all... I am really pumped about my little puzzling creative project! I feel like these ladies have a million things they want to spill their guts about what they’ve been through in the last month. 💕
This whole stay at home time has been an utter emotional whirlwind. Some days I feel like I have “everything under control” and some I’ve been known to declare it a pajama day and throw in the towel. And my problems are lofty and then I have guilt about that.
I knew I needed to start creating more than I have been in the last two years because in emotional times I sometimes forget to create and when I finally do it is such a therapeutic time in the studio. So I have been making and making, one because I’m physically home now and around my supplies, and two, I knew if I didn’t I wouldn’t be myself.
I am so proud of myself for jumping into the unknown and what was previously “scary” for me, figures and portraits. Just because I hadn’t created any portraits in years and so therefore I had told myself that I couldn’t create that, “that wasn’t what I painted,” whatever excuse I could find. With new materials - oil pastels with oil paint on a textured canvas panel and spray glitter boarders! - and a new limited palette 🎨 I really pushed myself from uncomfortable to renewed energy and I’m so glad I did. Here’s to new.
I mean, aren’t you ready to FLY THE COOP?! We are in our 6th week of “stay at home” quarantine due to covid-19 and our 8.5 week since the kids have been in school due to spring break rolled in... but who’s counting?!
Sometimes I feel like I just need to fly away, that fight or flight kicks in and I daydream of sprinting as far as I can or sneaking away to a tropical island, but then reality hits and I’m reminded that the entire earth as we know it is frozen.
So let us all find whimsy and beauty in the flight of the bird. Not caged, they’re still singing in this springtime air. Or... are these gold leafed pupils up to no good? Because #birdsarentreal and the plan is working...
...hahahaaaaa jk I’m not that crazy. I mean, yes I am going slightly insane staying at home with two young children but no, not that crazy, right?! RIGHT?! 🤣🙃
The Dorothy Art “I Want to Fly Away” consists of 5 larger pieces, high contrast with neon oil paints atop a black background and gold leaf, some with pink, blue, and purple foil! Concluding the collection are 5 Florentine panels and 2 Florentine altars with mixed media birds atop Dorothy’s signature sheet music collage.
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Today's the day! These limited edition 8x10" prints of my digital sketches are live in the Dorothy Art Shop! These eight illustrations are a reflection of the happiness of springtime. During this crazy covid quarantine time, my hope is that these bright pink images bring a youthful carefree calmness and cheer in your home.
I created these pieces in the wee hours of the night during feeding sessions in the Wizard of Oz nursery with my sweet newborn babe, Coco. I found myself drawn to the whimsical images of Little Goodall clothing line models (and thus fell into the rabbit hole of purchasing a bajillion things for Coco to wear in the coming years!) as well as getting excited to purchase and create flower arrangements for myself in my grandmother's passed down chinoiserie vases, famille rose pieces, and happiness ginger jars. Add an illustration of the Veuve bottle that John and I sipped on for our at home New Year's Eve dinner, and we've got ourselves a hot pink, bright, and cheery spring 2020 art print collection!
Each of these are a limited print series, so only 10 of them are in the release.
Sometime this year, I ran across the quote "Invest in people who invest in you." It hit me right in the face. Throughout 2017 I met so many new people who are excited to be in their creative journeys alongside me. I have surrounded myself with people who want to grow and for that I am so thankful. To those who have supported me and my art venture this year and in the past, a heartfelt thank you. I am continued to be amazed that I get to create artwork, doing what I love, FOR A LIVING!
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2017 was different. Looking back, I believe I have grown so much in such a short amount of time.
The year started with me still being on "maternity leave" with Johnny being about 1/2 year old. I am so grateful that I have a career that allows me to start and stop on my time. By March, something snapped and I dove into things full speed ahead!
I started off slow. I knew I wanted my artwork to have a fresh start. While on maternity leave, the pregnancy fog faded and it dawned on me that everyone and their mamas was painting churches and cotton. My signature style wasn't that signature or special anymore. In the past 5 years, there's no telling how many hundreds (thousands!?) of churches and cotton bolls I had painted. I was burnt out from being an assembly line from wholesale and the subjects that originally spoke to me weren't on my heart anymore. I decided to have a studio sale in February at my home and clean out all of my older pieces. New beginnings!
I decided that I wanted to get back to the joy of painting for that - the sheer joy of it. I wanted to create the pieces that I wanted for myself. Odd, quirky, one of a kind works that could never be reproduced again. In the mean time my antiquing habit was at an all time high. And I was finding THE COOLEST stuff! I wanted to stick those things I found at antique malls and shops into the artwork itself. And so I did. The Dorothy Art Shadowboxes were born!
Since I was recreating my sales channels from previous years, no longer selling original artwork through wholesale and no longer being able to attend weeklong art shows two states away now that I'm a new mama, I knew I wanted to dive in and really immerse myself in the "why" of my work. You know the saying that you are a reflection of your 5 best friends? Well, I wanted to surround myself with creative conversation again. On International Women's Day, all through social media I kept seeing so many people celebrating one or two women they looked up to. I wanted to share all of my artist friends with everyone!!! There are so many creative women who I know, love, and respect. I text 20 of my closest creative art friends to ask if I had a podcast, would they want to be on it. 20 out of 20 said yes! Positively Creative was born and launched in May! Season One holds 30 episodes and the podcast has hit #5 in iTunes Design this year. I am blown away.
Around the same time in mid March, and along those same lines of wanting to be surrounded by like-minded creatives, I had recently discovered Rising Tide Society, a international group for creative entrepreneurs. I looked for the local chapter, assuming I would know the leader and I would come out of new mom life and join in on the fun. I quickly found out that there wasn't a local Memphis chapter (omg, how on earth is Memphis missing all of this free incredible information?!? Why isn't it here yet?!?) So I applied to be the leader. I knew this would help me to become more involved in our art community and I could not let those 20 page PDFs be only seen by me in Memphis! It needed to be heard and shared! My "insta-friend" at the time, Sarah Baumann, became the co-leader and quickly one of my new besties! The group has grown so much over the past half year and I am humbled by it to say the least.
In 2017 my partnership with Kirkland's started. I re-released about a dozen images in their stores. It is a fun feeling seeing your past work in a big box store! With that paycheck, I purchased my iPad Pro & Apple Pencil and I have been teaching myself through Skillshare and CreativeLIVE classes how to draw digitally and make patterns. I created the Memphis Toile and Memphis Royalty patterns on my iPad, then had them made into pillows, a project I have been trying to get the perfect sourcing for for years! I cannot wait to build more digital works in 2018 and to grow the fabric line and create future products.
This year I got to check something off of my bucket list: to have a Dorothy Art shop. The Downtown Memphis Commission selected me and about a dozen others out of 80+ applicants to run a month long pop up shop on North Main in downtown Memphis. It was a dream putting together a space that was filled with not only my art, but vintage pieces that I have found that have inspired my work throughout the years. For a month I hosted mini trunk shows three times a week and had workshops in the space. Thank you to all of my artist friends who helped make that month a reality and a success!
I am still learning my new schedule, and with a toddler that schedule changes regularly. I feel so fortunate to get to have a career where I can start and stop and cater to Johnny when he needs me. Being his mama is so much fun and watching him be a happy growing boy is a thrill.
Sometime this year, I ran across the quote "Invest in people who invest in you." It hit me right in the face. Throughout 2017 I met so many new people who are excited to be in their creative journeys alongside me. I have surrounded myself with people who want to grow and for that I am so thankful. To those who have supported me and my art venture this year and in the past, a heartfelt thank you. I am continued to be amazed that I get to create artwork, doing what I love, FOR A LIVING!
Cheers to a wonderful 2018! I have SOMETHING HUUUUGE that I'm working on currently and I cannot wait to share. 2018 is going to be epic!
Best,
Dorothy
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